This weekend we were comign back from California and around the I-10 and Palm Springs area , the freeway and the UP tracks run pretty close. There is a double track for as far as I can tell. Well, we saw a train parked, most likely waitng crew change or clearance. We drving along looking at the cars (had the family with me) when the train ended and rigth behind it was another one. it must have been with in 200 feet of it. (it is guess but menatly spaced 50’ cars in between the font engine and the last car)
I was surpised to see two trains parked this close together. Is this common? They were heading into LA and my only guess is they were put on hold for the yard since it was Friday and maybe they were full.
Any input on this? Thought it was pretty unique [:)]
Best Regards
John k
When a yard cannot except trains for any reason, things like this will happen. It makes sense to bring the trains up close, because to do anything else may lead to fowling crossovers or siding access and further reduce track capacity even more than just what the parked trains do. Others have reported seeing up to ten trains in a situation like what you observed, particularly in the days of the UP “meltdown” (may the Eternal’s grace prevent that from ever happening again!) and particularly on the Sunset route near Houston.
Wow ten trains, I cant even imagine that. Well, OK. it make sense. I thought that was it but just wastn sure. Thanks for the info Dave.
Best Regards
John k
Hi John,
Good to hear from you. Havn’t seen you in here for a while.
Where were these trains at? If it was around Thousand Palms they might have been stacking up waiting for help up the hill. The normal crew changes are West Colton and Yuma.
You ask if it is common for them to get that close. I would say it’s more common for them to park 3-4 carlengths away as one carlength doesn’t leave a lot of room for error if the train ahead Should roll back before moving forward. But that rarely happens and I wouldn’t think it’s that risky to get that close. It’s quite common for trains heading down Cajon pass to stack up behind one another up on top. They usually don’t get closer then 3-4 carlengths away from eachother though. And the track is relativly level at the top for 2-3 miles or so.
Hi John;
As you may know this is a very busy line in and out of Southern California. This dosen’t suprise me to much. If this was on a Sunday morning I wouldn’t think twice about it. Normally from about 2 am until around 11 am on Sundays this is a very busy place to be. The trains get stacked up behind each other between west Colton and Indio.
For the trains coming up from the Long Beach area, I’ve seen 140 - 150 car stack trains roll by West Colton very often heading to points east on the railroad.